Day: June 13, 2017

Rama Central's Grade 5 students recently had the privilege of attending a "Youth Teaching Youth" First Nations event on the Rama Reserve. Grade 5 and 7 students, plus teachers from Mnjikaning-Kendaaswin Elementary School and community elders, shared their cultural and environmental teachings with us.

The day began with an opening circle, which included a smudging ceremony:

Following our opening circle, students attended an Ojibwa class:

... and a craft class:

Next, our hosts treated us to a traditional First Nations lunch, consisting of a delicious stew, fried biscuits, cedar tea, and strawberry shortcake.

After lunch, we attended a gym class, featuring traditional First Nations games:

Our day closed with a visit from a jingle dancer, from the community. She shared stories and danced, and then several boys from Mnjikaning-Kendaaswin school sang and drummed for us:

These are notes of thanks written by students in our class, after we returned from the Youth Teaching Youth event:

Thank you for this amazing day. It was so cool. I loved the food and really everyone was nice. EH

Thanks for arranging this day. It was so fun. The one thing that surprised me was the arrow catapult. It was hard but really fun, and lunch was delicious. My class and I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about First Nations. Thanks again. JH

I had a lot of fun and met a new friend named Emmet! KL

I had lots of fun today. The students and staff at the First Nations school were very kind and awesome. My favourite parts were the probability game with Mr. Snache and the jingle dance. Thank you for inviting us. SM

Thank you for letting us come to your school. My favourite part was everything, because it was all fun! PL

Thank you for arranging the trip for my class. I had lots of fun, especially the arrow thing. Thank you. AT

Thank you so much for teaching me all of the cool stuff. MB

My favourite part of the day was meeting a new friend named Lily. She was funny! SW

Our day was very fun. I liked the circle (outside) and all of the inside activities. PD

What a super-fun day! Thank you. AK

Today I had lots of fun because of all the art and dancing. EG

I learned a lot about the three sisters and water. Thank you for a wonderful day! AR

Thank you for arranging this day. My favourite part was painting rocks and hanging out with my friends. I really want to go to your school, not because my friends are there, just because your school is AWESOME! EC

-----------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for visiting our class BLOG. If you have any questions or comments, feel free e-mail me (Margaret Black): mblack@scdsb.on.ca or to add a comment to this page.